Branding without considering the user experience (UX) is like slapping some beautiful paint onto a badly built shelf. It may look nice, but at the end of the day, it’s not usable and will most likely fall to bits - and obviously, you don’t want that.
How user experience and branding tie together
Venn diagram of UX Design and Branding.
Good UX can create a strong connection between users and the brand, whereas bad UX can lead to a negative perception and damage the brand.
Here at PivotPoint, we use our knowledge in the UX space along with each team member's strengths in the different design disciplines to create innovative and valuable experiences for organisations to elevate their brand and product.
Below are a few UX methods we commonly practice that can influence your branding decisions.
At the surface level your brand and UX seem like two different disciplines that would only occasionally interact. But in reality, UX is a critical aspect of your brand experience – it plays a significant role in shaping a customer’s perception of a brand.
Know who you're designing for
In UX Design, understanding your end users’ needs, wants, and expectations are important in creating a successful product. Without taking in these considerations you may wind up with a product that has no real aim or goal to work towards, and you’ll find yourself often getting lost and overwhelmed trying to cater to all users.
During the UX design research process, we often conduct the following three activities:
- Identifying your target audience and;
- Creating personas based on those target audiences;
- Mapping out various users' 'jobs to be done'.
Example of methods of identifying your target audience from Unsplash.
With these two artefacts, we gain an understanding of the end users. Users’ are more likely to return to a brand that is seamless, enjoyable, and has a fulfilling experience versus one that doesn’t understand their needs and wants.
Understanding your competitors
An important UX step to consider when rebranding is conducting a competitor analysis. As the name suggests, a competitor analysis consists of examining your competition and understanding where you stand against them.
With branding, this is a significant thing to consider. You wouldn’t want to wind up too far along the design process only to find out you’re treading down an already well-worn path. Competitor analysis gives you an edge to break through the noise and truly make something unique.
Spending time looking through a competitor’s brand and finding out what does and doesn't work for them will help you gain insights into the current market and identify where any gaps may lie. From that, you’ll be able to brainstorm any new innovative ideas and ways to make your own product flourish and stand out from the crowd.
Make it accessible
Like with understanding your end users, consideration for people from all walks of life with various health and physical conditions should be considered when branding. Often it can be easy to fall for certain design trends because they might look cool and fun, but often it’s easy to miss rules around accessibility in favour of making something look nice.
Some important accessibility rules to consider;
- Colour contrast – can those with visual impairments properly see your brand? In fact 1 in 12 men are red-green colour blind, whereas 2 in 200 women are
- Font choice – is your typeface easily readable and what font size should you use?
- Icon choice – do they make sense to all your users?
- Language – is it easy to understand or will they just become confused?
Example of brand colours with accessibility testing from Unsplash.
Test your brand experience in front of users
You’ve done all that research and design, and while you may be excited to get it out and live, an important step to consider is user testing. It can often become easy to become blind to some things when you’re working so closely with the product and seeing it daily, so having a fresh pair of eyes can help with providing new angles that may have been missed.
Testing concepts and ideas in front of your ideal end users can help you gain insights into whether the design decisions you’ve been making actually align with their needs and wants. It’ll give you the benefit of real-world insight from your target audience which can help in improving your brand and creating the best user experience for your end user.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, UX design and branding, although different in concept on paper, are two design disciplines that when combined together can help elevate and lead the charge in delivering results that make an impact.
Interested in learning more about how PivotPoint can benefit your brand? Get in touch with us below, we'd love to talk brand and user experience and they can help you achieve your business goals.
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